In the late 1960s Chou get touched with abstract expressionism. The progressive theories on art and ink painting of her colleague Lui Shou-Kwan of the Lingnan School inspired her to experiment with different techniques and various types of paint, including oil, acrylic and watercolor. Kathy Zhang mentioned that artists working in this vein followed Lui’s precepts and combined Western and Chinese art, while striving to retain the essence of Chinese traditional art. In the 1970s Chou began to experiment with different ink wash painting techniques like splash ink, piled ink, and pointillism. The one stroke (Yi bi hua) technique, derived from Zen and Tao has led to her dynamic, abstract paintings—and became her signature style of the 1980s. Irene Chou was the Hong Kong representative for the United Nation's Women's Liberation. Her works of the 1980s were representative of the New Ink style emerging in Hong Kong. After the death of her mentor Lui Shou-Kwan in 1975 and her husband in 1978, the style of Chou’s work changed fundamentally. But this depression gave her enormous Energy and so her style became bolder and more spontaneous. In the 1980s she won several awards and became a key figure in the contemporary Hong Kong art scene.